Patient-centred approach to chronic non-cancer pain (CNCP)
Published: 8th October 2024
Overview
- Early diagnosis is essential for managing chronic pain effectively.1
- Assessment of people with chronic pain should involve evaluating: the pain (clinical factors/red flags), the patient (psychological factors/orange/yellow flags), and patient background (socio-economic factors/blue/black flags). 1,2
- Early intervention is key in evaluating flags: between 2–6 weeks after onset of pain use screening questionnaires and in-depth assessments for psychological and socio-economic factors.3–5
- Narrow biomedical approaches may be ineffective for some chronic pain as some underlying diseases may be untreatable.6–8
- A good chronic pain management treatment approach combines biomedical and psychological interventions and avoids analgesics as primary management. Instead, it uses analgesics as part of a multidimensional approach.9–10
The key to effective chronic pain management is early detection and diagnosis.1 The medical assessment of people with chronic pain should involve evaluating three key areas:
